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A man packing a set of brass knuckles slammed a worker's head into a counter at the CVS at 1249 Boylston St. this morning and threatened to kill her and another employee if they didn't point him to the store's supply of painkillers, police say.

Alerted to the scene by a 911 call, officers with guns drawn got the man to let her go and surrender, police say.

Police say Justin Morgan, 20, entered the drugstore around 10:45 a.m., headed for the pharmacy, got behind the counter and told an employee he worked for CVS and wanted to know where they kept the painkillers. But when she asked to see some ID, police say, Morgan:

Grabbed the victim by the back of her head and slammed her head into the pharmacy counter. At one point, according to the victim, the suspect picked up a bag of needles and threatened her. Officers spoke to a second store employee who stated that the suspect approached her, pushed her in the chest area with two hands and threatened to kill her.

Police say officers arrived in time to see Morgan holding the woman:

Fearing for the safety and well-being of the store employee, officers unholstered their firearms and immediately ordered the suspect to release the victim and drop any weapons he may be in possession of. When the suspect stepped away from the victim, officers quickly moved in and cuffed the suspect. A search of the suspect enabled officers to take possession of a pair of gold-colored brass knuckles.

Morgan faces charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, kidnapping and assault and battery on a police officer, police say. Police explained the last charge:

During the booking process, the suspect became verbally belligerent and physically abusive towards the officers. Refusing to cooperate, the suspect instead repeatedly tried to punch and kick officers. One officer was struck in the face

"Assault with a dangerous weapon" probably covers that; given the other charges, a separate "and possession of that dangerous weapon" is unlikely to affect a judge's decision on bail. When things get that far, it's the DA's office that will decide on the charges, not the arresting officer. (This is part of why it matters who the DA is.)

Whoever, except as provided by law, carries on his person, or carries on his person or under his control in a vehicle, any [...] metallic knuckles or knuckles of any substance which could be put to the same use with the same or similar effect as metallic knuckles [...] shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than two and one-half years nor more than five years in the state prison, or for not less than six months nor more than two and one-half years in a jail or house of correction, except that, if the court finds that the defendant has not been previously convicted of a felony, he may be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not more than two and one-half years in a jail or house of correction.

I'm leaving out a *lot* of text, including some about dangerous weapons used in the commission of a crime; that is one hella wordy and hard to read section.

In Massachusetts district court practice, clerks decide which charges are supported by a police officer's affidavit in support of probable cause. The DA can dismiss or reduce charges once they issue, but it's an impartial Trial Court employee who decides which offenses go into a complaint and thus what a person is charged with.

like Boston, is a magnate for homeless, substance abusers, and those looking for social services. The majority, as in Boston or Cambridge, are from somewhere else, other parts of MA, N.E., other parts of the northeast, east coast in general, etc.

Quincy is also more of a city than traditional American suburb. It also, IMO, has greater socioeconomic diversity and even racial vs Cambridge. Some people on this site seem to have a very misinformed idea and impression about what Quincy is like.

So anyone who cares to claim Quincy as ethnically diverse, go into the most popular spots in Quincy Center and count the non-white patrons. "Ethnically diverse" does not mean "technically statistically 'diverse', but a bunch of homogenous pockets included in one sample". 90% of the population comes from two ethic groups, which doesn't sound particularly diverse. How many major cities not named Portland, OR have black or Latino populations under 5% each? That's really, really, really hard to pull off in a "diverse" city.

If a house costs $400,000, and you have less than $400,000, you have to borrow money from somebody who has a lot of it. Like a bank. The bank has no obligation to lend you the money if you're deemed unfit to pay it back.

That's a problem for everybody, not just Latinos. Your government has spent decades incentivizing shelter as profit center through the tax code, while also not adequately funding public access to family planning resources. So, now you have too many people trying to occupy too few homes.

that children of hard-working, low-income or immigrant families go into. It at least used to be good work, with manageable school debt burdens, and a foot in the door to white collar for their children.

Can someone please tell the drug-crazed violent criminals that the oxy is stored somewhere else, like in the desk drawers of chop-shop private equity firms and corporate lobbying firms?

If you have to be lower caste violent criminal scum, the least you could do is to prey upon high caste scum who are keeping down the lower castes, not prey upon other lower castes who are decent people and working hard to make their way up.

Buys security to protect itself because they can. The working class can't do that.

I once read that Henry Louis Gates, upon moving to Lexington, went to the police station and introduced himself, telling them that he would be coming home at night driving his Mercedes. The type of people who live in Lexington have that level of protection for their goods.